What can I say to school to get them on my side?

[Panda]

Ooh GeorgeOliver, good luck to you we are in the same position, DS is nearly 7 and things have picked up a lot recently. As we are up North we have to miss some school for castings, so we have to be really picky on which castings to accept but also make sure our agent asks for slots after 5.30 as well. This means we can get our afternoon attendance tick tho we will have to leave earlier.

I would def go and see your headteacher face to face and ask how/what is the best way to manage the absences so show you care for them as well and want to work alongside. My DS has just done a 5 day shoot in Italy, 3 school days,2 non school. His teacher gave him 12 sheets of maths works and reading books to complete. I now need to go in tomorrow to ask for another day off next week for a photo shoot and one the following for a short film I have been speaking to our LEA lady to check that school are ticking the right boxes and wont be penalised but I am afraid the news is not good Even with a licence, whether the abscence is marked as H (Holiday absence where the head can currently authorise up to 10 days but will then restrict) or C (other authorised circumstances) it will still impact on the School Absence record What is more annoying is that there is also a code "Approved Sporting activity" which doesnt affect the schools absence rate at all! Apparently only the D of E can make the codes, maybe we need to start (another) petition for acting/modelling one i think

Sorry to post not so good news, I am in exactly the same position, but I hope forewarned with the facts is forearmed. Good Luck !

[riverdancefan]

I really hope the school sees what a little star they have in their midst and encourage him in all his endevours,
they will be really suprised when they see just what he is up to.
wishing you all the best, and you may have a grin from ear to ear after speaking to them, let us know!!

[kittykatty]

I was fortunate that my dd's headteacher at primary school was very supportive. She told me that my dd was on the G&T register for drama and that it was the school's job to help develop her skills and allowing time off for auditions and filming was part of it. She only had about 12 days off over a 2 year period so not excessive but it was nice to know she could have ask much time as she liked.

She's now in year 7 and the headteacher is not quite so supportive but it is so quiet it hasn't mattered - she has only had to leave early a couple of times since September and that has been approved.

I know modelling is a bit different but I think as others have said it is important to get the message across that this is something that is good for your child's development and not just a day off to have fun. Perhaps you should meet him and say "I have some wonderful news, ds has fought of lots of competition to get a really fanatastic modelling job on Monday - its going to me a fantastic experience for him, he'll learn such a lot" rather than creep in and say "Sorry to disturb you..could I ask a favour".

With regard to attendance I was told (I think by Irishdancer) that they could put it down as Work Experience so I mentioned that to the primary school teacher who said she would check with council. She didn't say any more to me but when my dd got her attendance form at the end of the year which has all the codes on, all her time off was down as W for work experience so counted towards her attedance. If the head teacher is concerned about targets and measurements you could mention that.

[Dell71]

How have you got on with the school Georgeoliver?

[Georgeoliver]

Ok I went into school and asked to speak with the head teacher but she was in a meeting and was not in the following day. I had no choice but to hand over my absence form/letter to be passed on so she could read after the meeting. The following day I was told that my ds could have Monday off for the shoot and it would go down as something else :0) I had to provide copy of agency contract and that was that :0) I was so happy as it looks like head is going to support us
Just got to find out how we stand with castings now as most of the time I would need to take ds from school slightly early to get into London. Don't want to push my luck so I'll wait a little while.
Thank you all for your advice, it really helped

[Dell71]

Well that's a good sign Maybe take this opportunity to still go and speak to the head. Thank him/her for allowing the time off and tell them how it went and use that conversation to lead onto what may happen in the future and how the school feel about time off for this sort of thing. You could even show the head any photo's you may have of what your ds has done in the past.